Sun Baked bread: the best gift I can give!

by De'Jun Walborn
(Charlotte, North Carolina)

After having my husband sick for several months and then my husband having a hospital visit that lasted a week to ascertain what was wrong with him, I realized that as the home executive (full time mother staying home watching our two boys under three) I was not very self sufficient in being able to provide the basic necessities for our family, especially in the event of an emergency such as this one. Therefore, I decided to make a global sun oven to be more self sufficient for our family.

I spent two and a half months constructing a global sun oven. It took me a long time since my boys need a significant portion of my time. These boys also like to play outside and while they played outside I was able to work on a portion of my global sun oven a few minutes at a time.

As the sun brightens up my sun oven the temperature goes from zero to 350 degrees. I started making loaves of bread in my sun oven and found that this bread was the best tasting bread ever; and thus, I brighten others with a gift of sun oven baked bread each week.

The person receiving the bread is elated to have a nice gift. I love to bless others, and in the event I am blessed to be a lucky winner of the free solar oven, I will bless more people with bread since I will have more cooking space to do so.

If any of you are interested in constructing your own global solar oven from the pattern of my global sun oven I made then here are the specific directions to do so for yourself.

I cut the wood with a saber saw and all measurements were made with measuring tape.

The exterior box is constructed out of ¼ inch wood. The measurement for the front side is 10 1/2 inches in height by 24 ½ inches wide. The exterior box measurement for both sides is 15 inches tapered to 10 1/2 inches in height by 16 inches wide. The exterior box measurement for the rear/back side is 15 1/2 inches in height by 24 1/2 inches wide. The exterior box measurement for the top is 18 inches length by 25 inches wide. Within the top inner portion that I cut the wood (13 inches length by 19 inches width) such that a piece of tempered glass could be placed on it to allow the sun to come into the global sun oven.

The exterior box measurement for the bottom is 16 inches in length and 24 inches wide. I stapled with an automatic stapler all of the wood surfaces together to get all the wood pieces together for my exterior wood box.

The inner box is constructed from metal from a microwave. The metal was cut with an angle grinder with a 4 ½ inch grinding wheel. The inner metal box measurement for the front side is 9 ¼ inches high by 20 inches wide. The two metal sides are 12 inches in width and tapered from 12 ½ inches to 9 1/4 inches in height. The back side is 12 ¾ inch height by 20 inches wide. The bottom panel is 12 inches in length and 20 inches wide. The top panel is 13 ¼ in length and 20 inches wide. The inner top area that is cut is 9 inches in length and 19 inches in width to allow the glass to go on top of it. A piece of tempered glass was placed on top and then adhered with mirror brackets on all four corners. The same occurred with the tempered glass (20 inches by 14 inches) on the wood; it was adhered with four mirror brackets at all four corners. A self leveling tray was constructed from metal from a microwave and placed inside the metal box. The insulation used between the inside and exterior boxes was all aluminum foil.

I used metal screws to adhere all of the sides together in the inner metal box. Then, I sealed the exterior and interior of the metal box with JB Weld cold since this product can handle the high temperatures that the global sun oven will reach.

I painted both the metal and wood boxes black with High temperature Barbeque spray paint. The upper reflectors are constructed from fiberboard and then covered with 2 mil Mylar reflective film on the inside that reflects the sun rays inside the global sun oven. The upper reflectors are all 18 inches tall and the two sides measured 16 inches in length and the front and rear pieces were 20 inches in length. At the bottom of the reflectors I notched it with a straight cut that was one inch inward and measured 2 ½ inches up and cut a straight line between the two and it yielded a section to adhere the reflectors together with a straight edge. I attached the Mylar with tape to the fiberboard and the sides were attached together using a hinge (2 ½ inches long) on the lower side of the fiberboard for a total of four hinges used. On the front side of the wood box is a handle in the center to lift up the global sun oven and at the back of the global sun oven in the middle is a mobilizing device (15 1/2 inch cabinet drawer slider used for cabinets drawers to slide in and out which can handle 35 pounds of lifting capacity) which is able to lift the global sun oven to an angle necessary to deliver the best sun based on the time of day.

To attach the upper reflectors to the box I had to install on the front and rear side a metal piece that has a hole in it at the bottom section. I then took one metal spring and attached it to the handle and the hole in the metal piece on the reflector. I took the other metal spring and attached it to the middle mobilizing device and then to the metal piece on the reflector so it does not move.



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Wow! that is a lot of detail and a lot of work to put something together like that, but it sure sounds like you made yourself a quality solar box cooker. And so very similar in design to the famous Global Sun Oven.

I am impressed! That is a lot of commitment and perseverance on your part. But, it sounds like it was well worth it.

Thank you very much for sharing your story with our site visitors.
It should be some great motivation for others to try the same.

One small request, would you be willing to share a few more "up-close" photos of some of the details of your solar oven you described above?

I think many people would love to be able to see what it is you describe so they can better follow your patterns.

thank you,
Nathan
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